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Fool's Talk: Recovering the Art of Christian Persuasion
In our post-Christian context, public life has become markedly more secular while private life infinitely more diverse. Yet many Christians still rely on cookie-cutter approaches to evangelism and apologetics. Most of these methods assume that people are open, interested and needy for spiritual insight when increasingly most people are not. Our urgent need, then, is the capacity to persuade to make a convincing case for the gospel to people who are not interested in it. In his magnum opus, Os Guinness offers a comprehensive presentation of the art and power of creative persuasion. Christians have often relied on proclaiming and preaching, protesting and picketing. But we are strikingly weak in persuasion--the ability to talk to people who are closed to what we are saying. Actual persuasion requires more than a one-size-fits-all approach. Guinness notes, "Jesus never spoke to two people the same way, and neither should we." Following the tradition of Erasmus, Pascal, G. K. Chesterton, C. S. Lewis and Malcolm Muggeridge, Guinness demonstrates how apologetic persuasion requires both the rational and the imaginative. Persuasion is subversive, turning the tables on hearers' assumptions to surprise them with signals of transcendence and the plausibility of the gospel. This book is the fruit of forty years of thinking, honed in countless talks and discussions at many of the leading universities and intellectual centers of the world. Discover afresh the persuasive power of Christian witness, from one of the leading apologists and thinkers of our era."
270 pages, Hardcover
First published July 4, 2015
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2,179 people want to read
About the author
Os Guinness
77 books345 followersOs Guinness (D.Phil., Oxford) is the author or editor of more than twenty-five books, including The American Hour, Time for Truth and The Case for Civility. A frequent speaker and prominent social critic, he was the founder of the Trinity Forum and has been a visiting fellow at the Brookings Institution and a guest scholar at the Woodrow Wilson Center for International Studies. He lives near Washington, D.C.
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January 23, 2016
One of the best books on Christian persuasion I have read. Guinness is very smart, interacting with all sorts of books and men. But he is also clear and well organized. He is not trying to overwhelm you with his scholarship, which makes this book accessible to almost anyone.
One point that stuck with me is that people don't want to hear us. I often enter a situation with a non-believer and even liberal Christians assuming that they care, that I already have their ear. But I don't. People need to be persuaded. Christian persuasion is the art of moving people through various means to where they they want to hear our message even if they end up rejecting it.
His chapter titled "The Anatomy of Unbelief" was excellent. He looks at unbelief through numerous different lenses. By the time you reach the end of the chapter you feel like the doctor has given a thorough diagnosis of the diseases.
Another great chapter was the one entitled "Kissing Judases." Guinness hammers the post-modern relativity within the church and notes that the hardest apologetic work needs to be done within her walls. He lays out the four steps of compromise: assumptions change (often unknowingly), abandonment of old values, adaption of doctrine and life, finally assimilation of the sinful culture but calling it "Christian." Again the chapter is well outlined and clear. I thought his point about apologetics within the church was good one. Many of the greatest enemies of the faith are those who call themselves Christians.
Finally his chapter on the stages by which someone comes to the faith is very helpful. A person begins by questioning their current beliefs, moves to looking for a new answer, then zeros in on one particular answer to investigate, and finally commits to that answer. At each stage Guinness helps the reader understand what the "seeker" needs at that point. He also makes a nice distinction in this chapter between a "browser/channel surfer" and a "seeker." A seeker is someone whose previous beliefs have been shaken and is seriously looking for answers. A browser is someone who really doesn't care that much. Instead of surfing channels, they surf churches or faiths. Our approach to browsers must be different from seekers. A browser must be brought to a place where they care first. A seeker already cares.
Guinness nicely balances man's unbelief with the power of the Holy Spirit, the need for rational explanations of the Christian faith, and the need for good answer to objections. All pastors, Christians professors, Sunday School teachers, and even those who don't teach could benefit greatly from reading this book.
One point that stuck with me is that people don't want to hear us. I often enter a situation with a non-believer and even liberal Christians assuming that they care, that I already have their ear. But I don't. People need to be persuaded. Christian persuasion is the art of moving people through various means to where they they want to hear our message even if they end up rejecting it.
His chapter titled "The Anatomy of Unbelief" was excellent. He looks at unbelief through numerous different lenses. By the time you reach the end of the chapter you feel like the doctor has given a thorough diagnosis of the diseases.
Another great chapter was the one entitled "Kissing Judases." Guinness hammers the post-modern relativity within the church and notes that the hardest apologetic work needs to be done within her walls. He lays out the four steps of compromise: assumptions change (often unknowingly), abandonment of old values, adaption of doctrine and life, finally assimilation of the sinful culture but calling it "Christian." Again the chapter is well outlined and clear. I thought his point about apologetics within the church was good one. Many of the greatest enemies of the faith are those who call themselves Christians.
Finally his chapter on the stages by which someone comes to the faith is very helpful. A person begins by questioning their current beliefs, moves to looking for a new answer, then zeros in on one particular answer to investigate, and finally commits to that answer. At each stage Guinness helps the reader understand what the "seeker" needs at that point. He also makes a nice distinction in this chapter between a "browser/channel surfer" and a "seeker." A seeker is someone whose previous beliefs have been shaken and is seriously looking for answers. A browser is someone who really doesn't care that much. Instead of surfing channels, they surf churches or faiths. Our approach to browsers must be different from seekers. A browser must be brought to a place where they care first. A seeker already cares.
Guinness nicely balances man's unbelief with the power of the Holy Spirit, the need for rational explanations of the Christian faith, and the need for good answer to objections. All pastors, Christians professors, Sunday School teachers, and even those who don't teach could benefit greatly from reading this book.
Want to read
January 3, 2020Mentioned positively here: We cannot treat our unbelieving neighbors as people with clear-cut "worldviews" that require prefabricated answers from a worldview camp or textbook.
October 8, 2022
“Do you know how you can act or speak about rhetoric so as to please God best?” - Socrates
Os emphasises in his introduction the following: “We have lost the art of Christian persuasion and we must recover it”. Did I recover it after finishing the book? No :) Have I learned useful clues about how to approach a discussion with the hostile or the sceptical? A few, yes.
For example, I became aware of how the Old Testament prophets are using persuasion e.g. prophet Micaiah and king Ahab (the preferred sparring partner of the prophets). Before discussing strategies, it starts with the theological grounds for the Christian persuasion (WHAT IT IS). We don’t take the word “persuasion” to which we add “Christian”. We start from “Christian” to which we add “persuasion”. So, Os criticises the technique imperialism and the McDonaldization of the world and deplores that today’s evangelism is rather influenced by handbooks for effective sales techniques and cookie-cutter formulaic methods (WHAT IS NOT).
My preferred chapters were “Signals of transcendence” and “Anatomy of Unbelief”. In these two chapters the humans are described, on the one hand, as partly truth seekers and, on the other, as willfully truth twisters, the later chapter being about how unbelief abuses truth in the light of Paul’s diagnosis from Romans 1 (WHY WE NEED PERSUASION).
In terms of HOW, the apologetic discussion is aiming to reach the heart of the people. “The heart of apologetics is the apologetics of the heart”. The Christian persuasion aim is to “to arouse in man the desire to find truth”. To achieve that, it is wise to start from the ground of the unbeliever, understand his language thoughtfully and “push him to the logic of his presuppositions” which will eventually reveal his inconsistencies. Use questions well (not like a crazy prosecuting attorney) and cite his “prophets”/intellectuals, not yours. Moreover, hear and listen to identify the “signals of transcendence” in his or her experiences, point to them and help the seeker to follow where they lead. The experience that there is “something more” in life than we have imagined arises in us the desire to seek for a more “surer and richer” answer to explain our new findings.
Other strategies include reframing (because sin frames God falsely and the unbeliever’s definition of god is often a pity caricature), story and parables and drama and ploys, which are “indirect, involving and imaginative”. I sympathise with all of my heart with Os in this observation and I’m glad that I found an ally in him. Drama and ploys have an underestimated subversive power for the good. I'm wondering - hasn't our creativity been baptized? :) Ironically, cookie-cutter techniques that are reducing the interlocutors to automates are preferred.
The author is in asentiment with the quote from Ignatius: “It is better to keep silent and to be, than to speak without being”. In this regard, the apologist should be a person of character and virtue who “always addresses the public good and not only his own interest”. The speaker should abandon the pressure of “always being right” because “God is more true and more certain than our best defence of him”.
Some chapters seem to me too far away from the theme of the book, like the interesting chapter about hypocrisy or the unnecessary chapter about liberal Christianity.
What about the title “Fool’s Talk”? In the chapter “The Way of the Third Fool” Os explains the choice for the title. “The fool maker is the person who is not a fool at all, but who is prepared to be seen and treated as a fool, so that from the position of derided folly, he or she may be able to bounce back and play the jester, addressing truth to power, pricking the balloons of the high and mighty, and telling the emperor that he has no clothes. This, says Paul, is what God did on the cross [...] shaming and subverting the world’s wisdom through folly, the world’s strength through weakness and the world’s superiority through coming in disguise as a nonentity. [...] There was no other way. It takes the full folly and weakness of the cross to find us out and win us back.”
In conclusion, the book is a fantastic piece of literature which abounds in erudice. Os quotes eloquently thinkers from all backgrounds, like Lewis, Pascal, Berger, Niebuhr, Kierkegaard, Camus, Nietzsche, and others. I was in asentiment with most of his ideas and suggestions. However, although I think addressing the heart is essential, I have my doubts that the approach works with people that have developed serious critical intellectual positions against the Chrisitian faith that are just not open to any “signal of transcendence”. To give credit to the author, he states in his conclusion that both are essential and fruitful, but the “way of the open hand” (persuasoria) in contrast to the “way of the closed hand” (dissuasoria) is the one that we most need to recover today. Reason, logic, evidence and argument and not enough. We need love and compassion, eloquence, creativity, imagination, humour and irony. Os is trying to reconcile presuppositional and evidential apologetics, but I think his method leans towards presuppositionalism. As it describes in the last chapter, you have to some extent presuppose the Chriastian faith to be able to assert its evidence. His writing is eloquent and flash. However, sometimes it felt like paragraph after paragraph, the author was restating the same idea only for aesthetic purposes and only superficially connecting the dots. However, that doesn’t change the fact that I enjoyed it and I highlighted it fervently, being introduced to new authors and learning new terms to express ideas.
Os emphasises in his introduction the following: “We have lost the art of Christian persuasion and we must recover it”. Did I recover it after finishing the book? No :) Have I learned useful clues about how to approach a discussion with the hostile or the sceptical? A few, yes.
For example, I became aware of how the Old Testament prophets are using persuasion e.g. prophet Micaiah and king Ahab (the preferred sparring partner of the prophets). Before discussing strategies, it starts with the theological grounds for the Christian persuasion (WHAT IT IS). We don’t take the word “persuasion” to which we add “Christian”. We start from “Christian” to which we add “persuasion”. So, Os criticises the technique imperialism and the McDonaldization of the world and deplores that today’s evangelism is rather influenced by handbooks for effective sales techniques and cookie-cutter formulaic methods (WHAT IS NOT).
My preferred chapters were “Signals of transcendence” and “Anatomy of Unbelief”. In these two chapters the humans are described, on the one hand, as partly truth seekers and, on the other, as willfully truth twisters, the later chapter being about how unbelief abuses truth in the light of Paul’s diagnosis from Romans 1 (WHY WE NEED PERSUASION).
In terms of HOW, the apologetic discussion is aiming to reach the heart of the people. “The heart of apologetics is the apologetics of the heart”. The Christian persuasion aim is to “to arouse in man the desire to find truth”. To achieve that, it is wise to start from the ground of the unbeliever, understand his language thoughtfully and “push him to the logic of his presuppositions” which will eventually reveal his inconsistencies. Use questions well (not like a crazy prosecuting attorney) and cite his “prophets”/intellectuals, not yours. Moreover, hear and listen to identify the “signals of transcendence” in his or her experiences, point to them and help the seeker to follow where they lead. The experience that there is “something more” in life than we have imagined arises in us the desire to seek for a more “surer and richer” answer to explain our new findings.
Other strategies include reframing (because sin frames God falsely and the unbeliever’s definition of god is often a pity caricature), story and parables and drama and ploys, which are “indirect, involving and imaginative”. I sympathise with all of my heart with Os in this observation and I’m glad that I found an ally in him. Drama and ploys have an underestimated subversive power for the good. I'm wondering - hasn't our creativity been baptized? :) Ironically, cookie-cutter techniques that are reducing the interlocutors to automates are preferred.
The author is in asentiment with the quote from Ignatius: “It is better to keep silent and to be, than to speak without being”. In this regard, the apologist should be a person of character and virtue who “always addresses the public good and not only his own interest”. The speaker should abandon the pressure of “always being right” because “God is more true and more certain than our best defence of him”.
Some chapters seem to me too far away from the theme of the book, like the interesting chapter about hypocrisy or the unnecessary chapter about liberal Christianity.
What about the title “Fool’s Talk”? In the chapter “The Way of the Third Fool” Os explains the choice for the title. “The fool maker is the person who is not a fool at all, but who is prepared to be seen and treated as a fool, so that from the position of derided folly, he or she may be able to bounce back and play the jester, addressing truth to power, pricking the balloons of the high and mighty, and telling the emperor that he has no clothes. This, says Paul, is what God did on the cross [...] shaming and subverting the world’s wisdom through folly, the world’s strength through weakness and the world’s superiority through coming in disguise as a nonentity. [...] There was no other way. It takes the full folly and weakness of the cross to find us out and win us back.”
In conclusion, the book is a fantastic piece of literature which abounds in erudice. Os quotes eloquently thinkers from all backgrounds, like Lewis, Pascal, Berger, Niebuhr, Kierkegaard, Camus, Nietzsche, and others. I was in asentiment with most of his ideas and suggestions. However, although I think addressing the heart is essential, I have my doubts that the approach works with people that have developed serious critical intellectual positions against the Chrisitian faith that are just not open to any “signal of transcendence”. To give credit to the author, he states in his conclusion that both are essential and fruitful, but the “way of the open hand” (persuasoria) in contrast to the “way of the closed hand” (dissuasoria) is the one that we most need to recover today. Reason, logic, evidence and argument and not enough. We need love and compassion, eloquence, creativity, imagination, humour and irony. Os is trying to reconcile presuppositional and evidential apologetics, but I think his method leans towards presuppositionalism. As it describes in the last chapter, you have to some extent presuppose the Chriastian faith to be able to assert its evidence. His writing is eloquent and flash. However, sometimes it felt like paragraph after paragraph, the author was restating the same idea only for aesthetic purposes and only superficially connecting the dots. However, that doesn’t change the fact that I enjoyed it and I highlighted it fervently, being introduced to new authors and learning new terms to express ideas.
September 17, 2015
Buy Fool’s Talk Now
Os begins by setting out two propositions: first, we are in “the grand age of apologetics” (16) and second, “We have lost the art of Christian persuasion and we must recover it”(17 italics original). His game plan? Bringing together the art of apologetic and evangelism. Divorce the two and you get Christians only concerned with winning arguments and not people or just concerned with ABC repeat-after-me tactics. When the two are combined, you have arguments that take other’s belief seriously, are actually concerned for people, and are aimed at the heart.
I’m a recovering ABC repeat-after-me evangelists and grew up in a tradition that could be manipulative when inviting people to Christ. So even though in my head I know persuasion isn’t bad sometimes I find myself suspicious when the word pops up in the context of evangelism. If you’re like me, you might have thought, Shouldn’t we just proclaim the gospel and allow the Spirit to work?
What I loved most of all was how cruciform and Spirit-dependent Os was through out Fool’s Talk. He made clear our arguments rest on the cross of Christ which is folly to an unbelieving world and the power of the Spirit (28). Persuasion doesn’t mean deception or cheesy bait-and-switch tactics. It means approaching apologetics-evangelism with excellence like we would anything else. All the while admitting:
Our work is important, but at best our part is to bring the presence of God into the debate through the power of the Holy Spirit, and to remember that we are no more than junior counsels for the defense. . . . Balaam’s ass is the patron saint of apologetics. (58, 60)
Read the entire review here
Os begins by setting out two propositions: first, we are in “the grand age of apologetics” (16) and second, “We have lost the art of Christian persuasion and we must recover it”(17 italics original). His game plan? Bringing together the art of apologetic and evangelism. Divorce the two and you get Christians only concerned with winning arguments and not people or just concerned with ABC repeat-after-me tactics. When the two are combined, you have arguments that take other’s belief seriously, are actually concerned for people, and are aimed at the heart.
I’m a recovering ABC repeat-after-me evangelists and grew up in a tradition that could be manipulative when inviting people to Christ. So even though in my head I know persuasion isn’t bad sometimes I find myself suspicious when the word pops up in the context of evangelism. If you’re like me, you might have thought, Shouldn’t we just proclaim the gospel and allow the Spirit to work?
What I loved most of all was how cruciform and Spirit-dependent Os was through out Fool’s Talk. He made clear our arguments rest on the cross of Christ which is folly to an unbelieving world and the power of the Spirit (28). Persuasion doesn’t mean deception or cheesy bait-and-switch tactics. It means approaching apologetics-evangelism with excellence like we would anything else. All the while admitting:
Our work is important, but at best our part is to bring the presence of God into the debate through the power of the Holy Spirit, and to remember that we are no more than junior counsels for the defense. . . . Balaam’s ass is the patron saint of apologetics. (58, 60)
Read the entire review here
June 19, 2016
Summary: Guinness argues for the recovery of the lost art of persuasion that combines good apologetic work with evangelism and is aware of the many people Christians address who are not open to their message.
This is a book that Os Guinness has been preparing for a lifetime to write. Throughout his life, Guinness has been presenting the Christian faith in the public square, not only with the interested but also those who are not, those who would oppose or are disinterested in the Christian message and worldview. The book reflects a summation of the lessons he has learned and his urgent sense that the pressing need for Christian witness today is a recovery of the lost art of Christian persuasion. We know how to proclaim and we know how to protest. But do we know how to persuade those with whom we differ, engaging both minds and hearts?
He contends that often we settle for mere technique, whether that be "canned" evangelistic presentations, or "canned" arguments for the faith. This often is not enough because such approaches assume the interest of the person with whom we engage. Yet to persist in the work of persuading is urgent for those who love God because our enemy seeks to rob God of glory either by questioning his existence or by impugning God with the blame for humanity's problems.
He argues that we take the approach used by Erasmus in The Praise of Folly, becoming the "holy fool" a kind of court jester representing the kingdom of heaven pointing out the follies of unbelief, and perhaps at times following the holiest fool of all, the Lord Jesus. [Having read and reviewed this biography of Erasmus recently, my interest is piqued to read In Praise of Folly!] He then plunges into considering the anatomy of unbelief, and how often it is ultimately not simply an intellectual incapacity to believe, but a heart-driven unwillingness to believe because of what this would mean for one's life.
This calls for different forms of persuasion depending on the person. It may mean the turning of tables on them, pressing them to the ultimate conclusions of their beliefs (for example, "relativizing the relativizers"), if they are a person who prides themselves on consistency. For others, less consistent, it may be exploring the disturbing "signals of transcendence" that point to a reality other than can be explained by their worldview. The challenge is bringing a person to a place of facing the inadequacy of the belief they've embraced to be willing to consider something different.
The latter chapters consist of several warnings for the advocate of Christian faith. One is the "know-it-all" attitude that is not characterized by a humility before truth. Another is hypocrisy in one's life where one's claims and one's character fail to match up. And finally, he warns of the ways we may betray the faith. The four step process of embracing an assumption of modern life as superior, abandoning all that does not square with this, adapting whatever faith is left around this, and finally assimilating into the culture. What Guinness points out is the danger in our efforts to engage with the culture, that if we are not clear on what must be central and unchanging, that we will make fatal compromises.
Perhaps the most significant idea here, and one worth further development, is this idea of the "holy fool." As Guinness observes, there have been some, like Erasmus, G.K. Chesterton, Pascal, Muggeridge, and Lewis, who with wit, humor, and incisive argument point out the weaknesses and follies of others while commending by persuasion and a kind of winsome humility the transforming nature of Christian faith. Such an approach takes both truth and people seriously, engaging heart and mind, not with canned approaches or sterile arguments, but warm-hearted persuasion that gives people reasons for heart, soul, mind and strength to love God more than all else.
One might ask, "where is God in all this?", and at points this seems like a book on the Christian rhetorician's art, and this alone is all that is needed. What Guinness reminds us of, is that while the Christian communicator always is dependent of the work of God in those with whom they communicate, the person may often only become aware of this as they come to the place of commitment. He writes, and with this I'll conclude:
"Intriguingly, this fourth stage of the journey is often when God's presence becomes plain for the first time. The wholehearted step of faith of the new believer is far more than simply his or her own step. At one moment a seeker making her commitment knows as she has never known anything before that she is more responsible for the step of faith than for any other choice in life, and that she has never been more fully herself than in taking it. But the next moment she knows too that the One she thought was the goal was all along the guide as well. She knows that she has not so much found God as that God has found her. All the time the seeker thought she was seeking, but actually she was being sought, for God can only be known with the help of God. 'The hound of heaven,' as the poet Francis Thompson called God, has tracked the seeker down" (p. 248).
This is a book that Os Guinness has been preparing for a lifetime to write. Throughout his life, Guinness has been presenting the Christian faith in the public square, not only with the interested but also those who are not, those who would oppose or are disinterested in the Christian message and worldview. The book reflects a summation of the lessons he has learned and his urgent sense that the pressing need for Christian witness today is a recovery of the lost art of Christian persuasion. We know how to proclaim and we know how to protest. But do we know how to persuade those with whom we differ, engaging both minds and hearts?
He contends that often we settle for mere technique, whether that be "canned" evangelistic presentations, or "canned" arguments for the faith. This often is not enough because such approaches assume the interest of the person with whom we engage. Yet to persist in the work of persuading is urgent for those who love God because our enemy seeks to rob God of glory either by questioning his existence or by impugning God with the blame for humanity's problems.
He argues that we take the approach used by Erasmus in The Praise of Folly, becoming the "holy fool" a kind of court jester representing the kingdom of heaven pointing out the follies of unbelief, and perhaps at times following the holiest fool of all, the Lord Jesus. [Having read and reviewed this biography of Erasmus recently, my interest is piqued to read In Praise of Folly!] He then plunges into considering the anatomy of unbelief, and how often it is ultimately not simply an intellectual incapacity to believe, but a heart-driven unwillingness to believe because of what this would mean for one's life.
This calls for different forms of persuasion depending on the person. It may mean the turning of tables on them, pressing them to the ultimate conclusions of their beliefs (for example, "relativizing the relativizers"), if they are a person who prides themselves on consistency. For others, less consistent, it may be exploring the disturbing "signals of transcendence" that point to a reality other than can be explained by their worldview. The challenge is bringing a person to a place of facing the inadequacy of the belief they've embraced to be willing to consider something different.
The latter chapters consist of several warnings for the advocate of Christian faith. One is the "know-it-all" attitude that is not characterized by a humility before truth. Another is hypocrisy in one's life where one's claims and one's character fail to match up. And finally, he warns of the ways we may betray the faith. The four step process of embracing an assumption of modern life as superior, abandoning all that does not square with this, adapting whatever faith is left around this, and finally assimilating into the culture. What Guinness points out is the danger in our efforts to engage with the culture, that if we are not clear on what must be central and unchanging, that we will make fatal compromises.
Perhaps the most significant idea here, and one worth further development, is this idea of the "holy fool." As Guinness observes, there have been some, like Erasmus, G.K. Chesterton, Pascal, Muggeridge, and Lewis, who with wit, humor, and incisive argument point out the weaknesses and follies of others while commending by persuasion and a kind of winsome humility the transforming nature of Christian faith. Such an approach takes both truth and people seriously, engaging heart and mind, not with canned approaches or sterile arguments, but warm-hearted persuasion that gives people reasons for heart, soul, mind and strength to love God more than all else.
One might ask, "where is God in all this?", and at points this seems like a book on the Christian rhetorician's art, and this alone is all that is needed. What Guinness reminds us of, is that while the Christian communicator always is dependent of the work of God in those with whom they communicate, the person may often only become aware of this as they come to the place of commitment. He writes, and with this I'll conclude:
"Intriguingly, this fourth stage of the journey is often when God's presence becomes plain for the first time. The wholehearted step of faith of the new believer is far more than simply his or her own step. At one moment a seeker making her commitment knows as she has never known anything before that she is more responsible for the step of faith than for any other choice in life, and that she has never been more fully herself than in taking it. But the next moment she knows too that the One she thought was the goal was all along the guide as well. She knows that she has not so much found God as that God has found her. All the time the seeker thought she was seeking, but actually she was being sought, for God can only be known with the help of God. 'The hound of heaven,' as the poet Francis Thompson called God, has tracked the seeker down" (p. 248).
March 12, 2020
Like so many other writers that I've read before, I have to say that I cannot believe I am just now discovering the writing of Os Guiness -- this even after having earned a graduate degree in Christian apologetics.
This is a well-done and engaging attempt at proposing a comprehensive and cohesive apologetic that draws on philosophy, literature, art, and the task of communicating the core gospel message.
This is a well-done and engaging attempt at proposing a comprehensive and cohesive apologetic that draws on philosophy, literature, art, and the task of communicating the core gospel message.
June 13, 2018
Outstanding. This is probably the best book on apologetics I have read.
January 23, 2025
For a person who says that we need to do apologetics, not just talk about it, Guinness sure spends a lot of time talking about apologetics. Or around apologetics, in a sense. This book was mostly Guinness just riffing on the idea of doing apologetics, as a concept. This is not an actual apologetics book.
That said, I'm still glad I read it. Guinness is perceptive, and makes helpful distinctions. For example, this concept about holding worldviews struck me:
There are therefore two poles in the believing mind and heart, which I call the "dilemma pole" and the "diversion pole." The dilemma pole expresses the logic of the fact that the more consistent people are to their own view of reality, the less they are to God's reality and the more likely they are to feel their dilemma. The diversion pole expresses the fact that the less consistent people are to their own view of reality, the closer they are to God's reality, so the more they must find a diversion. Neither pole is necessarily closer to God, because unbelief as unbelief will not bow to God either way, but the people at either pole are relating to God and to their own claims to truth in entirely different ways.
That said, I'm still glad I read it. Guinness is perceptive, and makes helpful distinctions. For example, this concept about holding worldviews struck me:
There are therefore two poles in the believing mind and heart, which I call the "dilemma pole" and the "diversion pole." The dilemma pole expresses the logic of the fact that the more consistent people are to their own view of reality, the less they are to God's reality and the more likely they are to feel their dilemma. The diversion pole expresses the fact that the less consistent people are to their own view of reality, the closer they are to God's reality, so the more they must find a diversion. Neither pole is necessarily closer to God, because unbelief as unbelief will not bow to God either way, but the people at either pole are relating to God and to their own claims to truth in entirely different ways.
January 12, 2021
I finished this book last week and forgot to give my freshest of comments on it! This is a great book that emphasizes the Christians responsibility to live and proclaim Christ in the lost world. The events that have taken place recently remind me of the necessity for Christians to live as salt and light and to proclaim talk that appears to be foolish to the watching world. Guinness is a superb writer, and it is in this book that I found him to sound the most like Francis Schaeffer. A must read for the sake of the church and her influence today.
June 10, 2024
Am început să citesc această carte dintr-o curiozitate minimă. Am terminat-o având o curiozitate ridicată pentru apologetică. Cred că mi-a clarificat și oferit o imagine mai clară a modului iubitor de a fi persuasiv în ceea ce privește creștinismul. Autorul are un mod de a scrie uşor de digerat, despre ceva ce este sau pare atât de complex pentru mulți.
Am rămas cu acest gând care cred că mi-a schimbat mult perspectiva artei persuasiunii creștine: “Într-o eră postcreștină, mulți dintre prietenii, vecinii și colegii noștri Îl vor respinge pe Dumnezeu dintr-o serie de motive, dar noi trebuie să trăim și vorbim în așa fel încât ei să Îl respingă pe Dumnezeu datorită lui Dumnezeu, nu datorită faptului că prin ceea ce am spus sau am făcut Dumnezeu a fost portretizat în mod greșit.”
Am rămas cu acest gând care cred că mi-a schimbat mult perspectiva artei persuasiunii creștine: “Într-o eră postcreștină, mulți dintre prietenii, vecinii și colegii noștri Îl vor respinge pe Dumnezeu dintr-o serie de motive, dar noi trebuie să trăim și vorbim în așa fel încât ei să Îl respingă pe Dumnezeu datorită lui Dumnezeu, nu datorită faptului că prin ceea ce am spus sau am făcut Dumnezeu a fost portretizat în mod greșit.”
August 20, 2016
I have long enjoyed reading Os Guinness, and found "Fool's Talk" to be both a clever title and a very helpful apologetics resource. One caveat: as Guinness himself warns early on, don't expect this book to be a "how-to" primer for either apologetics or evangelism. "Fool's Talk" is, instead, a rich seminar on persuasion rather than just preaching, enriched from 50+ years of experience on the author's part, as well as numerous quotes and ideas from Christian thinkers and apologists across the centuries.
Guinness points out that, in this present post-Christian age (so-called), "we are all apologists now" -- with many opportunities to speak with people who, frankly, often don't at all want to hear what we have to say. One of the biggest take-aways for me was how well he distinguishes between evangelism and apologetics, and discerning which is needed in any conversation with an unbeliever. Well worth reading, with much helpful material to think about as we interact with a skeptical world!
Guinness points out that, in this present post-Christian age (so-called), "we are all apologists now" -- with many opportunities to speak with people who, frankly, often don't at all want to hear what we have to say. One of the biggest take-aways for me was how well he distinguishes between evangelism and apologetics, and discerning which is needed in any conversation with an unbeliever. Well worth reading, with much helpful material to think about as we interact with a skeptical world!
May 5, 2020
One of the best books I can remember reading on the topic of Christian witness. Deeply wise, even-handed, and very well-read. Worth the price of admission just for the quotes and endnotes alone.
Sadly, many Christian books could and should have been booklets. Alas, publishing and market forces distort these kinds of things and we end up with books that have one or two good points and a lot of fluff to fill the rest of the chapters.
This is decidedly different. I took my time and worked through it quite slowly over about a year. It is actually very concentrated and distilled, sometimes too brief in exploring an insight. It is rightly described as a magnum opus; Guinness' summary of his life's work. I can only salute him and say my respect and admiration for his heart and mind has only continued to increase. May his tribe increase, and may the church be given many more evangelists and teachers in this mold.
I hope to write some more extended reflections on the real content of the book, but for now this little squeal of a review will have to suffice.
Sadly, many Christian books could and should have been booklets. Alas, publishing and market forces distort these kinds of things and we end up with books that have one or two good points and a lot of fluff to fill the rest of the chapters.
This is decidedly different. I took my time and worked through it quite slowly over about a year. It is actually very concentrated and distilled, sometimes too brief in exploring an insight. It is rightly described as a magnum opus; Guinness' summary of his life's work. I can only salute him and say my respect and admiration for his heart and mind has only continued to increase. May his tribe increase, and may the church be given many more evangelists and teachers in this mold.
I hope to write some more extended reflections on the real content of the book, but for now this little squeal of a review will have to suffice.
May 27, 2022
Marvelous. Essential reading for anyone who participates in what Guinness calls, “Christian advocacy”, especially in the post-Christian West.
Guinness’ aim is best summed up in this quote from the very last page, “Is there any doubt that the [method of Christian advocacy] we most need to recover today, both to be true to our Lord and to gain the key to reach the hearts and minds of our post-Christian generation is the way or the heart that reaches out to persuade with an open hand?” No doubt at all.
Reading this book is a crucial step on the journey towards becoming the kind of Christian advocate who listens, loves, faithfully shares, and invites their generation to “come and see”.
The end notes are also a treasure trove for further reading on winsome, loving persuasion.
Guinness’ aim is best summed up in this quote from the very last page, “Is there any doubt that the [method of Christian advocacy] we most need to recover today, both to be true to our Lord and to gain the key to reach the hearts and minds of our post-Christian generation is the way or the heart that reaches out to persuade with an open hand?” No doubt at all.
Reading this book is a crucial step on the journey towards becoming the kind of Christian advocate who listens, loves, faithfully shares, and invites their generation to “come and see”.
The end notes are also a treasure trove for further reading on winsome, loving persuasion.
July 15, 2024
Loved this line: "The cross, Martin Luther wrote, was the devil's mousetrap. The devil smelled cheese, and wham, felt steel."
Genesis 3:15
Overall, a great book on recovering persuasion in our evangelistic efforts!
Genesis 3:15
Overall, a great book on recovering persuasion in our evangelistic efforts!
July 7, 2021
Guinness credits C.S. Lewis as a major influence, and that comes through strongly in how he communicates, in his depth and accessibility.
September 25, 2023
Guinness is an excellent writer and story teller. Prose is a strength of his. However, there was nothing incredible about the book. It was fine, but nothing I'm gonna revisit. Like a lot of popular apologetics books it is a bit of a rehashing type of book. I wouldn't discourage someone trying to understand apologetics at a beginners level from reading. Could be good at that level.
July 22, 2020
A very unusual and extremely perceptive work on apologetics and evangelism, and the need to adapt and synthesise approaches.
February 6, 2024
Scholarly start with a strong, compelling finish!
August 18, 2016
I've heard Guinness speak. I've heard him debate. I've read some articles he's published. I know that he is an intelligent man, a skilled debater, and scholar. This was my first book by him and this was to be his magnum opus. And I'm greatly underwhelmed. I read this with another person who is far smarter and better trained in philosophy than I am and met to discuss each chapter. He too did not enjoy this book.
This was not really a book on the framework of Christian persuasion because he doesn't really provide much of a laid out philosophy. He seems to attempt to but he tends to write on a wandering path a lot. Nor is this a practical application such as Nancy Pearcey's amazing book "Finding Truth". Both Guinness and Pearcey are students of Francis Schaffer which make my dislike of the book so odd. Guinness' opening stories are well placed and entertaining but once you get into the meat of the chapter it's very confusing as to where he's going or why he's taking the path he is. I gave him three chapters to get going. By chapter four, my notes tended to be more harsh and found myself writing "needs better clarification".
That is not to say that there aren't some good points in this book. There are some good practical philosophical and application points. It is just that the book promises to make the case for Christian Persuasion - and it seems to forget to do so; or at least keep a consistent theme of that point.
I'm really disheartened to have to review this so low. I was hoping for something like Pearcey's book or a more philosophical version of that book. Instead, I got the lackadaisical stroll of a British philosopher who stops to smell the roses every 100 feet and forgets what he was saying. Final Grade - D-
This was not really a book on the framework of Christian persuasion because he doesn't really provide much of a laid out philosophy. He seems to attempt to but he tends to write on a wandering path a lot. Nor is this a practical application such as Nancy Pearcey's amazing book "Finding Truth". Both Guinness and Pearcey are students of Francis Schaffer which make my dislike of the book so odd. Guinness' opening stories are well placed and entertaining but once you get into the meat of the chapter it's very confusing as to where he's going or why he's taking the path he is. I gave him three chapters to get going. By chapter four, my notes tended to be more harsh and found myself writing "needs better clarification".
That is not to say that there aren't some good points in this book. There are some good practical philosophical and application points. It is just that the book promises to make the case for Christian Persuasion - and it seems to forget to do so; or at least keep a consistent theme of that point.
I'm really disheartened to have to review this so low. I was hoping for something like Pearcey's book or a more philosophical version of that book. Instead, I got the lackadaisical stroll of a British philosopher who stops to smell the roses every 100 feet and forgets what he was saying. Final Grade - D-
July 23, 2016
After seeing Dr. Guinness be interviewed on this book, I put it on my reading list. I am so glad I did. This is the best book that I have read on how to 'do' apologetics. One of the things that I respect the most about Dr. Guinness is how he promised the Lord in his early twenties that he would not write a book on how to do apologetics until he had done apologetics for many years. True to his promise, I believe the Lord blessed him in his ministry because of that. His pattern of using this fivefold approach to apologetics at Creation, Fall, Incarnation, Cross, & the Holy Spirit is a great tool to remember. I really enjoyed his illustrations. Even though it is a book for Christians I would actually be comfortable handing this book to non-Christians because he can't help but show how rational and beautiful the faith is. He shows the emptiness of the secular life and how the Christian faith really is the hope of the world. Lastly, in our age of choosing between an evidentialist approach versus a presuppositionalist approach, I appreciated how he challenged Christians to have a both/and perspective in using both approaches when appropriate. If you read one book in your life on how to do apologetics in the 21st century then please read this one!
October 1, 2020
loved this audio book despite it not exactly being what I expected. thought this would have been a cross between Tactics by Greg Koukl and the author s other book on civility. it was much better. although long on words, it was worth every minute. a better title would be, how to live in such a way as to witness for Christ. I will be re-reading this regularly.
Favorite quotes:
"sin is the claim to the right to myself, and so to my way of seeing things, which—far more than class, gender, race and generation—is the ultimate source of human relativity. On the other hand, sin is the deliberate repudiation of God and the truth of his way of seeing things. If my way of seeing things is decisive, anyone who differs from me is wrong by definition—including God. No, especially God, because his way of seeing things is more powerful and therefore more threatening than anyone else’s. His word, our interference."
Favorite quotes:
"sin is the claim to the right to myself, and so to my way of seeing things, which—far more than class, gender, race and generation—is the ultimate source of human relativity. On the other hand, sin is the deliberate repudiation of God and the truth of his way of seeing things. If my way of seeing things is decisive, anyone who differs from me is wrong by definition—including God. No, especially God, because his way of seeing things is more powerful and therefore more threatening than anyone else’s. His word, our interference."
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 15, 2016
This is my first Guinness book but it won't be my last. Guinness is making the argument that in order to communicate to a very changing culture our forms of apologetics must change. Not the content, mind you, and the author goes to great lengths to defend that. Instead he makes the seemingly obvious point that the postmodern culture we are living in doesn't respond well to straightforward argument (he details why) and then offers some insightful ideas on how to actually reach skeptics in our culture. I found this book challenging but ultimately encouraging. A must for anyone seeking to understand how to better reach our peers with the unchanging gospel of Christ.
May 9, 2016
This is a must "re-read."
I've never considered myself an Os Guinness fan, but this won me over. He is winsome, thoughtful, well-researched, well-illustrated, readable, and good amount of interaction with more academic sources. People who have read a lot of apologetics will probably appreciate this more than people who are just getting started, but everyone will learn from this book and his posture towards apologetics is worthy of imitation for all Christians.
I've never considered myself an Os Guinness fan, but this won me over. He is winsome, thoughtful, well-researched, well-illustrated, readable, and good amount of interaction with more academic sources. People who have read a lot of apologetics will probably appreciate this more than people who are just getting started, but everyone will learn from this book and his posture towards apologetics is worthy of imitation for all Christians.
March 16, 2017
I think this was promoted as the "magnum opus" of Os Guinness, and I'd say that I can see why. I already want to read it again. A compelling read.
March 19, 2017
The idea that Christians today have lost the art of Christian persuasion is not easy to read but it was very convicting and enlightening. Guinness addresses some of the issues I've wrestled with--answering hypocrisy, how do we even try to convince people who don't want to hear? (He never gives a short, straightforward answer). And doesn't rhetoric get in the way?--Paul said he didn't use flowery speech. Shouldn't we just trust the Holy Spirit and say whatever?
The writing isn't quick and easy though the anecdotes/references and quotes are pleasant enough to illustrate. My favorite aspect is the use of scripture to consider God's rhetoric. "The Word became flesh and spoke in human form as one of us, though incognito and in a disguise that fooled us and made Fools of us. And all this was because he had to, as there was no other way to subvert the stubbornness of our sinful disobedience and teach our hearts."
This book doesn't tell you outright HOW to persuade specifically in steps. He makes us aware of the importance of rhetoric as well as its limitations. He discusses how revisionism happens and has helped to erode perception of the Christian message, some techniques for helping turn nonbeliever thinking on its head with questions and other methods employed through prophets and Jesus and apostles. However, he doesn't give easy answers for how to winsomely persuade. It was definitely more theoretical, but that's NOT a bad thing!
Ultimately, I'm confronted and convicted by reading it. I do a poor job helping people from the path of totally closed to the gospel to committed believer. But I do believe I'm better aware of things for having read it. I will need to reread sections to nail down the ideas a little more. And mainly just listen to people.
The writing isn't quick and easy though the anecdotes/references and quotes are pleasant enough to illustrate. My favorite aspect is the use of scripture to consider God's rhetoric. "The Word became flesh and spoke in human form as one of us, though incognito and in a disguise that fooled us and made Fools of us. And all this was because he had to, as there was no other way to subvert the stubbornness of our sinful disobedience and teach our hearts."
This book doesn't tell you outright HOW to persuade specifically in steps. He makes us aware of the importance of rhetoric as well as its limitations. He discusses how revisionism happens and has helped to erode perception of the Christian message, some techniques for helping turn nonbeliever thinking on its head with questions and other methods employed through prophets and Jesus and apostles. However, he doesn't give easy answers for how to winsomely persuade. It was definitely more theoretical, but that's NOT a bad thing!
Ultimately, I'm confronted and convicted by reading it. I do a poor job helping people from the path of totally closed to the gospel to committed believer. But I do believe I'm better aware of things for having read it. I will need to reread sections to nail down the ideas a little more. And mainly just listen to people.
August 3, 2015
Slick spin and polished patois throb and thud their way through every aspect of American society. Whether it’s left or right, liberal or conservative, revisionist or traditionalist, each group has its own particular guild-talk and encoded lingo that fulfills and fortifies their respective self-perceptions. On top of this, much of our communication has become self-serving and self-absorbed, as we post and present and publish our blogs, statuses, thoughts and tweets. As all of this self-important and self-fulfilling hype clouds our associations, “social” media and society what, then, happens to the Gospel? Increasingly it falls into the trap of just being another slice of profile-raising that craves all the “Likes” it can garner. In “Fool's Talk: Recovering the Art of Christian Persuasion” Os Guinness, author, editor, and founder and past senior fellow of the Trinity Forum, has compiled a 270 page hardback to help Christians remedy the situation. It is a book about apologetics, but more than apologetics. It is about evangelism, but more than evangelism. It is concerned with Christian persuasion that is an advocacy of the heart, “an existential approach to sharing our faith” that is “deeper and more faithful as well as more effective than the common approaches used by many,” that is less concerned with winning the argument and more focused on “winning hearts and minds and people” (18).
Throughout “Fool's Talk” it is clear that Guinness is not presenting a pre-packaged, cookie-cutter program. The author is making a case for keeping apologetics and evangelism, proclamation and persuasion together (27). But he is also cultivating the important mindset of humility. As he wisely states, if the Christian faith is true, “it is true even if no one believes it, and if it is not true, it is false even if everyone believes it. The truth of the faith does not stand and fall with our defense of it” (58). To have this as a settled condition of the heart relieves the Gospel presenter and defender from the need to close the sell or win the debate, and instead it frees them up to care about the person or persons they are conversing with.
But it seems to me that Guinness is up to something bigger in “Fool’s Talk” than just stressing the value and importance of keeping apologetics and evangelism together. He appears to be doing three other, very important things in the book. First, the author challenges Western Christianity’s attraction toward modernism and postmodernism; the “breathless idolizing of such modern notions as change, relevance, innovation and being on the right side of history,” especially in the areas of time and technique (30). The new forms of “toxic syncretism” that spread “cowardice and compromise,” kowtowing to the pollster as king and data as all decisive, where “truth and falsehood, right and wrong, wise and foolish must give way to statistics, opinion surveys and pie charts,” that becomes “compatible with anything and everything, and so means nothing” (209-27). The importance of this challenge reminds us that if the truth of Christianity is true no matter what, then we don’t have to be captured by relevance as society defines relevance; and it reminds us that we will need to be just as focused on persuasion with those inside Christianity as we are toward those outside.
Along with this, the author will not leave Christians in a self-congratulatory position. Guinness, rightly it seems to me, persuasively subverts our propensity to whitewash our own failings. He defies our need to always be right, to win at all costs, whether with “showy exhibitionist rhetoric or ruthless streamrollering” (170). But more importantly, he lays open our own fault in the crumbling influence of Christianity in the West by pointing out how our own hypocrisies have undermined the Gospel; “Atheists gain their main emotive force not by setting out the purported glories of their worldview, ( . . . ), but in attacking the evils and excesses of Christians and Christendom. Something has surely gone terribly wrong when Christians are the best atheist arguments against the Christian faith and Christendom their best arguments for atheism” (204). Therefore Guinness points to the rightness of confession and repentance; “Plainly, there is a time in our arguments to confess, and confession and changed lives have to be a key part of our arguments” (206).
Finally, Guinness lays out the composition of unbelief; not for the purposes of excuse-making or ridiculing, but to show how the heart, mind and life are engaged in unbelief, and so “we must always need to be ready to go beyond purely rational arguments, for the human will is in play, so our arguments are never dealing with purely neutral or disinterested minds” (94). This means, for the author, that though Jesus is the only way to God, yet there are many ways people come to Jesus (232). He spends two significant chapters unpacking this, “Triggering the Signals” and “Charting the Journey”. In both of these chapters he shows the important place that signals of transcendence have in bringing others to start looking and searching beyond their presuppositions and assurances, and journey toward the moment when they will either take to their heels, or fall on their knees (250). The author is promoting a thoughtful charitableness that should pervade all Christian advocacies.
“Fool’s Talk” is about reclaiming and recovering the lost art of Christian persuasion. Guinness works masterfully to inspire Christians toward that end, but not through craft or technique. Instead, it is an advocacy of the heart, the face-to-face loving others who are in the image of God, seeking to persuade them with true truth that is life changing, even life changing for the persuader! I recommend this book.
My deep appreciation goes to IVP Books for the free copy of the book used for this review.
Throughout “Fool's Talk” it is clear that Guinness is not presenting a pre-packaged, cookie-cutter program. The author is making a case for keeping apologetics and evangelism, proclamation and persuasion together (27). But he is also cultivating the important mindset of humility. As he wisely states, if the Christian faith is true, “it is true even if no one believes it, and if it is not true, it is false even if everyone believes it. The truth of the faith does not stand and fall with our defense of it” (58). To have this as a settled condition of the heart relieves the Gospel presenter and defender from the need to close the sell or win the debate, and instead it frees them up to care about the person or persons they are conversing with.
But it seems to me that Guinness is up to something bigger in “Fool’s Talk” than just stressing the value and importance of keeping apologetics and evangelism together. He appears to be doing three other, very important things in the book. First, the author challenges Western Christianity’s attraction toward modernism and postmodernism; the “breathless idolizing of such modern notions as change, relevance, innovation and being on the right side of history,” especially in the areas of time and technique (30). The new forms of “toxic syncretism” that spread “cowardice and compromise,” kowtowing to the pollster as king and data as all decisive, where “truth and falsehood, right and wrong, wise and foolish must give way to statistics, opinion surveys and pie charts,” that becomes “compatible with anything and everything, and so means nothing” (209-27). The importance of this challenge reminds us that if the truth of Christianity is true no matter what, then we don’t have to be captured by relevance as society defines relevance; and it reminds us that we will need to be just as focused on persuasion with those inside Christianity as we are toward those outside.
Along with this, the author will not leave Christians in a self-congratulatory position. Guinness, rightly it seems to me, persuasively subverts our propensity to whitewash our own failings. He defies our need to always be right, to win at all costs, whether with “showy exhibitionist rhetoric or ruthless streamrollering” (170). But more importantly, he lays open our own fault in the crumbling influence of Christianity in the West by pointing out how our own hypocrisies have undermined the Gospel; “Atheists gain their main emotive force not by setting out the purported glories of their worldview, ( . . . ), but in attacking the evils and excesses of Christians and Christendom. Something has surely gone terribly wrong when Christians are the best atheist arguments against the Christian faith and Christendom their best arguments for atheism” (204). Therefore Guinness points to the rightness of confession and repentance; “Plainly, there is a time in our arguments to confess, and confession and changed lives have to be a key part of our arguments” (206).
Finally, Guinness lays out the composition of unbelief; not for the purposes of excuse-making or ridiculing, but to show how the heart, mind and life are engaged in unbelief, and so “we must always need to be ready to go beyond purely rational arguments, for the human will is in play, so our arguments are never dealing with purely neutral or disinterested minds” (94). This means, for the author, that though Jesus is the only way to God, yet there are many ways people come to Jesus (232). He spends two significant chapters unpacking this, “Triggering the Signals” and “Charting the Journey”. In both of these chapters he shows the important place that signals of transcendence have in bringing others to start looking and searching beyond their presuppositions and assurances, and journey toward the moment when they will either take to their heels, or fall on their knees (250). The author is promoting a thoughtful charitableness that should pervade all Christian advocacies.
“Fool’s Talk” is about reclaiming and recovering the lost art of Christian persuasion. Guinness works masterfully to inspire Christians toward that end, but not through craft or technique. Instead, it is an advocacy of the heart, the face-to-face loving others who are in the image of God, seeking to persuade them with true truth that is life changing, even life changing for the persuader! I recommend this book.
My deep appreciation goes to IVP Books for the free copy of the book used for this review.
April 4, 2019
Fantastic book. After 40 years of apologetics, Os Guinness finally writes his first book on apologetics. This is one of his life’s works, and it is great. He offers a balanced approach to engaging the modern culture that is at times brutally honest, very insightful and also creative. This will really help the modern Christian to begin understanding the various frameworks that lie in our 21st century Western world and how to begin laying foundations for engagement.
One of my big take aways is that we need less of the Christian philosopher-apologetics that we so often see, and more of the novelist and artist-apologetics. In other words, we need more GK Chestertons, CS Lewis’s, JRR Tolkien’s, etc. - desperately. We’re sorely lacking in this category, and our modern world is suffering because of it.
Very recommended read.
One of my big take aways is that we need less of the Christian philosopher-apologetics that we so often see, and more of the novelist and artist-apologetics. In other words, we need more GK Chestertons, CS Lewis’s, JRR Tolkien’s, etc. - desperately. We’re sorely lacking in this category, and our modern world is suffering because of it.
Very recommended read.
July 31, 2017
Very helpful (in places). The core concepts here are very important for understanding how Christians can communicate with people who are either indifferent or hostile to Christianity. There are useful discussions on the effects of sin on our thinking, the image of God, the logical outworkings of unbelief, and universal appetite for the transcendent. (However, he is a bit wordy - not overly complicated, just long-winded and even redundant at points. Every chapter could have been 2/3 as long, and some could have been left out.)
I'd recommend this for anyone interested in learning to communicate with non-Christians in a more constructive way.
I'd recommend this for anyone interested in learning to communicate with non-Christians in a more constructive way.
September 16, 2020
A breathtaking work on the motives and methods of apologetics. Guinness seeks to unite the best of pressupositional and evidential approaches by calling for discretion and wisdom in their application in the process of Christian persuasion (an umbrella-term that covers apologetics and evangelism). Some chapters uniquely brim with insights, but the work is a holistic fresh contribution to the thinking of apologetics, of which the source, means, and end is love. Highly recommended. Guinness' writing is beautifully glorious.
March 3, 2021
“If the truth is true it is true if no one believes it, and if it is false, it is false if the world believes it.” Calling out both militant Formulaic methods and passive apathy of the topic, Oz Guiness discusses conversational apologetics in a way that both personal and academic. Drawing from history, philosophy, psychology to distill a perspective of Christian persuasion that works in the living room or over a drink.
“Gods truth requires Gods art to serve Gods end.”
“Gods truth requires Gods art to serve Gods end.”
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